COLORADO SPRINGS — Power sports dealers have been seeing record high demand since the pandemic hit, as more people are trying to spend time outdoors. There’s just one problem—they’re also seeing record low supply.
“The manufacturers quit producing for about three months,” said Vernon Clark, owner of Rocky Mountain Cycle Plaza. “So what that means is they could not ship us product.”
Getting people to enjoy the majesty of Colorado has been the business of Vernon Clark for, well--
“A long time,” Clark said.
To be more specific…
“1975… January,” he said.
That’s when Clark took the reigns of Rocky Mountain Cycle Plaza.
What began as a motorcycle dealership grew into a full-on power sports warehouse.
Big enough for him to buy a former movie theater, gut it, and fill it with inventory.
“Oh, way full,” he said.
But since the pandemic hit--
“It’s way empty,” Clark said.
As it turs out, the great outdoors have been seeing a renaissance.
“Demand has been really high,” he said.
He means it. Really high.
“We had the best May we’ve had in the history of the store,” he said.
But it’s not the record demand that has his showroom so empty lately.
Manufacturers have only recently restarted production since temporarily shutting down.
“So now they’re just back in production, starting to ship product,” Clark said. So we’re gonna be out of product for another probably couple months.”
Turns out, record low inventory and record high demand don’t quite match
The wait lists for some models upwards of 90 customers deep.
“We’re chugging along,” he said.
January 2025 will make 50 years.
“Yeah we’ll have to celebrate,” he said.
And there’s no way these few crazy months will stop him from getting there.
